1:36pm: There’s “no way” the Kings would replace Karl with Lieberman, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com. The team isn’t going after Calipari, either, a league source insists to Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV in Sacramento (Twitter link).
11:55pm: Kings owner Vivek Ranadive would like to make assistant coach Nancy Lieberman the interim head coach if the team elects to fire George Karl during the season, sources tell Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher for a video report. Such a move would make Lieberman the first woman ever to serve as head coach of an NBA team. Vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac would lean instead toward Corliss Williamson, another current Kings assistant, in the event of a Karl firing, Bucher adds, though Divac said last week that Karl would remain the coach throughout the season. Ranadive continues to eye John Calipari as a would-be long-term successor to Karl and plans to make the Kentucky coach an “offer that Calipari simply cannot refuse,” according to Bucher.
Lieberman became just the second female ever to hold a full-time assistant coaching position in the NBA when the Kings hired her over the summer. She previously served as head coach of the Mavs D-League affiliate, leading the Texas Legends to the D-League playoffs in 2010/11, the only time the team has ever made the postseason. She also served as a head coach and GM in the WNBA after a decorated playing career.
Williamson is a former Kings player and teammate of Divac who rejoined the franchise as an assistant in the summer of 2013, a few months after Ranadive bought the team. Williamson served as a head coach at the University of Central Arkansas prior to joining Sacramento’s staff.
Ranadive’s interest in Calipari has grown stronger in recent months, as Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead reported last week. The Kings denied a report this summer that they reached out to Calipari, and while the one-time Nets coach has insisted time and again that he doesn’t want to leave Kentucky, rumors that he wants back into the NBA have been persistent.
Does Lieberman deserve a shot as an NBA head coach? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Nothing against Nancy but what in the world is this owner doing? I know Sterling went through testing to see if he was competent… Maybe it’s time for this guy to be. It just smacks of circus. I’m all for a woman coach but I don’t think this situation is the one where the first woman should step it. Almost seems like a gimmick.
I can recall when Nancy Lieberman-Klein threw a ball at Jamila Wideman’s head.
Actually she choked Wideman
A lot of speculation, what-if, and third hand information in Bucher’s presentation. This is more of a “stir the pot” piece on the Kings rather than news/rumor of anything imminent.
Ranadive seems like a guy who changes his mind from day to day, so who knows how valid anything he says really is.
Personally, I wouldn’t have a problem with either Corliss or Nancy as an interim or as the permanent new coach PROVIDED they have a legitimate opportunity to succeed. That doesn’t seem possible with this owner. Ask George Karl. And ask Michael Malone who should still be the coach.
And in answer to the question:
She deserves it as much as she has the talent to be the head coach. None of us really know how good a leader, teacher, motivator she is in relation to the other assistants, college coaches, or jobless former head coaches. But she should be measured by what she’s got above the shoulders, not what she has or doesn’t have below the waist. By all accounts, she has the talent, so why not?
First, Karl is to old for these young athletes and he’s to emotional always have been…never a winner, but knows hoop, but so does my young son.
Nancy?, she will not be able to the spot light never has, but understands hoop, but so does my young daughter…
She needs much more time in the league before she should even be considered. It would be more of an attention-getting move than a basketball move.
I think Nancy Lieberman such be the heats assistant coach next season and she will fit well with heat system.let go heat nation
This sounds like a lot of B.S speculation. And if it true that pathetic if kings are already preparing the fire Karl.